A Haunting at Hensley Hall (A Ravynne Sisters Paranormal Mystery) (15 page)

“I’m afraid that’s exactly who I think it is. We need to visit Sunnyvale again.”

“Are you going to tell Zack what we found?” Meg asked. “And what do we do with Cloud now that we found him?”

“No, we won’t tell Zack. He was supposed to share what he found with us, but we never said we would do the same. What have we heard from him, since he caught us in his room?” Charlie asked with one raised brow, as she began scooping the dirt back over the small skeleton.

“Well, we
were
snooping and he did leave that box of photos he found in the attic outside your door,” Meg told her, helping refill the small grave.

Charlie compressed her lips in a tight line. “We still don’t know if he’s Devon, but it
was
rather nice of him to share the photos . They did give us a bit of insight into Breanna and Devon’s relationship. At least as small children. They were as close as…”

“Two peas in a pod, but remember they did come from the same pod?” Meg reminded her with a smile.

“Old Thumper and the indifferent Mrs. Thumper? Not the kind of ‘pod’ I’d want to come from.”

“I’m going to make a marker for Cloud. Something nice with his name on it. Do you think Annie’s finished torturing Freddie?” Meg asked.

Charlie smiled and stood up, drawing her sister with her. “Time to rescue your fur child, or he’ll be so tidy you won’t recognize him.”

Meg gave an indignant snort. “As if that would ever happen!”

***

Charlie and Meg drove to Sunnyvale the next morning, leaving Freddie in Annie’s care. They had told her as little as possible. Telling her about the ghosts that haunted Hensley Hall was not a good way to hang on to the best thing that had happened to them, since they’d moved there.

It was a beautiful morning for a drive, but neither sister seemed to notice. They were both lost in their own thoughts until Meg said, “I don’t know what this all means, the locket buried with Cloud, but it creeps me out.”

“Me, too. Maybe Nell Arnold can shed some light on all this.”

A short time later they arrived. They were warned, when they signed in, that Nell had taken ‘a turn for the worst’ and they were ‘not to tire her out’. Even so, they were not prepared for the woman they found. Her face was white and drawn and the sparkle in her eyes was gone like a snuffed candle.

“Good morning, Nell,” Meg said, taking her thin brown speckled hand in hers. “How are you feeling?”

She smiled then and a bit of color came back to her cheeks. “I’m fine, girls….like an old clock, I’m winding down. I should know you, but I can’t seem to remember?”

“We’re Charlie and Meg from Hensley Hall. We were here to see you awhile ago,” Meg told her.

“Yes, I remember now. You brought me chocolates and a sweet little white dog. I don’t remember his name either.”

“Freddie. And he liked you, too. I’m sorry…we forgot the chocolates this time. Next time we’ll remember,” Meg replied.

“Aren’t you kind. No, I don’t think you need to be worrying about next time. What can I do for you girls today? More questions?”

“Just a few,” Charlie told her gently, drawing the locket from her pocket. “Meg found this buried in the garden at Hensley Hall along with the skeleton of a cat. Have you ever seen it before?”

Nell took it from her and turned it about, then traced the initials on top with one finger. “It’s Breanna’s. Her grandmother gave it to her. They had the same name, though her grandmother spelled her name with an ‘i’ instead of an ‘e’. Her grandmother loved her…both the twins…but she didn’t live long enough to be much of an influence. Breanna never took the locket off.”

“What can you tell us about the cat…the one buried with the locket?”

“Breanna always loved cats, used to feed the barn cats, her father couldn’t abide them. Called them ‘sneaking, sly things’ and wouldn’t have one in the house. But Breanna and Devon had other ideas. At night, they would sneak in this big, white cat and he would sleep with them…mostly Breanna. She was his favorite. I forget what they named him. Something to do with the weather I think?”

“Could it have been ‘Cloud’?”

“Yes, I think it was. Long fur. Must have had some Persian in him from somewhere. Polly, the cook, often saw them sneaking him out in the morning and neither of us ever said a word. Their father would have killed him and not blinked an eye. He was the very devil, when anyone disobeyed him.”

“Do you remember what happened to Cloud?”

“I heard round about, you understand, after I was sent packing, that he disappeared after Breanna disappeared. Some thought he ran off. Some thought the
master
may have found him, mooning about looking for Breanna and killed him. Anyway, that was all a long, long time ago. I’m getting a wee bit tired, girls. Was there anything else?”

“No, I don’t think so. We’ll be going so you can get some rest,” Meg told her, brushing a strand of white feathery hair gently back from her forehead.

“I was married before I became their nanny, did I tell you that? A good man he was…died young and never left me with a child of my own. Breanna and Devon became my children. I loved them both, though I didn’t know how to help them. They found in each other a kind of love most would label sinful. Even me. But who did they have but each other? Getting close to the other side gives you a different perspective,” she told them with a weary smile, as she brushed the locket, back and forth, against her paper dry cheek.

“They had you, Nell. And that had to mean a whole lot. We want you to keep the locket,” Charlie told her softly, tucking her blanket under her chin and turning off the bedside light.

“It will be like having them close by. Thank you more than this old lady can say.”

As they closed the door behind them, they heard her mutter, “Don’t forget the chocolates next time! If there is one.”

***

“Well, what do we know now that we didn’t know before?” Charlie asked thoughtfully on the drive home.

“We know it’s Breanna’s locket and she never took it off,” Meg replied, “though she may have when she showered or….”

“Then it is perfectly reasonable to assume she was wearing it when she disappeared…and was murdered…which is what we believe happened to her,” Charlie broke in before Meg had begun full babble.

Meg pinched her arm a hard as she dared “I hate when you do that…interrupt me like that! It still might have been an accident. All we know for sure is that her ghost visits me almost every night. Though she does miss a few now and then.”

“I thought you told me things had quieted down?” Charlie asked, raising one brow.

“I lied. I didn’t want to worry you, but they…it…she only seem to come out at night, though I do hear rustlings and whispers even during the day. There seems to be a lot of spirits roaming around we haven’t even gotten to know yet. I didn’t tell you about those either.”

“I lied, too. Cloud still comes for at least part of most nights. Let’s see what we do have. Breanna is dead…murdered or an accidental death, who knows? Her locket was buried with her cat, who was alive when she disappeared,” Charlie said, “which adds up to what?”

“You’re asking me? I don’t even know what I don’t know! I do know that Cloud was killed. That dent in his head wasn’t from falling out of a tree. Then.Devon just walks away and gets himself killed in some convenient train wreck. Or so we are led to believe, but we don’t,” Meg replied with a frown of concentration.

“Do you think Devon killed Cloud and put his sister’s locket in the grave with him?” Charlie asked.

“He killed those kittens in the rat traps, remember? Would he stop at killing a cat, if it served some purpose? Even one he seemed fond of if Nell remembers rightly? He cared about Breanna, too, and she’s dead.”

“We don’t know for sure if that was his doing, Meg.”

“If what Mrs. Shotz told us was even remotely true, the cops were looking in his direction. Why would he leave town if he was innocent?” Meg asked.

“Now
why
would Devon leave town? Maybe, because nobody would believe him? With Breanna and Nell gone, there was no one in his corner. Certainly not his parents. And certainly not all the people who had come to believe the worst of him over the years.”

Meg was quiet for a long moment. “But why kill Cloud?”

“Maybe, just maybe, .he knew too much!” Charlie said thoughtfully.

“And he was going to tell who? He’s a cat, remember?”

“But what if he knew where Breanna was buried and could lead someone there?” Charlie continued.

“That’s a motive, but why the locket?” Meg asked.

“If the cops found the locket on Devon, that would be one more piece of circumstantial evidence added to what they already knew or suspected. Remember, even Nell, who cared about him, came to think the worst. And he had a dead cat to get rid off. Solution? Bury them in one hole and plant a bush over them. A bush that has grown into that prickly jungle you so much admire.”

Meg laughed. “It will be beautiful some day. I was thinking, maybe Devon buried the locket and Breanna’s hair, if it is her’s, with Cloud to keep his spirit quiet.”

Charlie laughed, “Like that worked. Cloud is everywhere. And why not bury him with Breanna if that was his motive?”

“Maybe he couldn’t,” Meg began thoughtfully, “maybe….”

Charlie sighed and looked sideways at her sister. “You know I’m getting brain fry from all of this. There’s a diner. Pie and coffee sound good?”

“As long as we don’t spoil our dinner, or Annie will have our heads. Not that pie has ever spoiled anything for me!”

***

Meg had a surprise waiting for her, when they arrived home. Roses. One dozen long stemmed white roses and a card that read:
Your loveliness shames even these
! She questioned Annie who could only tell her that a delivery boy had dropped them off just past noon.

“You don’t think they’re from Mitch, do you?” she asked Charlie.

“As though that man would spend a dime on flowers, let alone know that white roses are your favorites. Who would know that except me?”

“No one that I can think of, but maybe one of the workers, helping me outside, might have overheard me talking to them.”

“I know you mean ‘talking to the roses’ because I know you. A normal person probably doesn’t talk to plants.”

“Nell talks to he African Violets and look how healthy they looked. Sometimes you need to be a little more open-minded. I would think living here would have cracked your mind wide open,” Meg said with a trace of petulance.

Charlie laughed, “You’re right, of course, at least this once. Did any of these ‘workers’ show you any particular interest?”

“You mean leer at me or wolf whistle? Unfortunately no. They called me ‘mam’ and tried not to swear in front of me?”

“Well, who else do you know in town?”

“The postman, the druggist, the check out boys at the supermarket, the butcher. Charlie I know a lot of people in this town, but not one that has shown a bit of interest. I know! Maybe it’s Moe! Of course that’s probably only wishful thinking.”

“Did he strike you as the romantic type? Someone who would send your favorite flowers with a card like that is not a ‘Moe’. Maybe it’s our new renter?”

“Miss Knows Everything, apparently you haven’t noticed I’m not the one he’s interested in!” Meg told her, as she took a turn around the room, then two, while Annie, Freddie and Charlie watched. “I don’t know who it is. Let’s call the florist and find out what he knows.”

What he knew didn’t prove very helpful. Someone had mailed a request for the roses and enclosed the card along with a hundred dollar bill. When Charlie asked the florist if he’d noticed the postmark, he said he hadn’t, but he still might have the envelope somewhere. But he didn’t. The morning trash had already been incinerated.

“Well, Meg, it looks like you have a secret admirer,” Charlie told her sister, who gave her a lopsided smile.

“Just my luck. The first guy I must have met somewhere, even if I can’t remember, with any romance in his soul, likes to play games.”

Moments later, Meg slipped away unnoticed. Up in her room, she made her way to her bathroom and studied her reflection in the full-length mirror attached to the back of the door. Someone thought she was beautiful! When was the last time she had felt beautiful? She shook her head and sighed. She had
never
felt beautiful. How could she with Charlie and Rayne for sisters, though, she had to admit, that Charlie seemed totally unaware of how gorgeous she was.

Rayne was quite the opposite. And she knew how to use her assets to get whatever she wanted. How easy it was for her! She sighed again, then reminded herself that Rayne had a warm and caring heart…probably more of one than she herself realized.

Meg pursed her lips in what she hoped was a seductive pout. Her hair was a nice shade of honey gold, but curly, then frizzy as a dandelion gone to seed with any bit of humidity. She widened her eyes and smiled. They were a nice shade of blue with long lashes. Her extra pounds had been widdled away in the renovation of the house, leaving plenty of curves. And her breasts were bigger than both her sisters…something some men would like.

But she was vertically challenged, she thought, standing on tiptoe and laughing. High heels had given her the inches, but unfortunately, she lacked the coordination to pull off the look. She envied those women who could run in heels, go up and down stairs in heels, stand all day in heels, but she lacked the gift. So short she was and short she’d have to stay, unless someone came up with a pill some day.